Probe Khan's terror links, SC tells Centre, mulls CBI probe

New Delhi, Mar 8 (PTI) The Supreme Court of India on
Tuesday asked the government to consider invoking anti-terror
and stringent Indian Penal Code (IPC) charges against Pune (a
city in western part of India) stud owner Hasan Ali Khan,
accused of massive money laundering and tax evasion and
suspected of having links with arms dealers and terror-related
activities.
A bench of justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar
also sought the government's response for entrusting to the
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), country's premier
investigating agency, the forged passport case against Khan on
the ground that investigations were not going in the right
direction.
The bench suggested invoking of anti-terror laws like
the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and other stringent
provisions of the IPC owing to Khan's alleged links with
various arms dealers including Adnan Khashogi and terror-
related activities, impinging on national security.
"There is angle relating to his links with arms
dealers. There is a terror angle. Threat to national security.
Whether these facts which are emanating from investigation in
the case registered under PML (Prevention of Money Laundering
Act), FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act), Passport Act,
would they attract any penal consequences? the bench queried,
while directing the Centre (Government of India) to explore
its suggestions.
Senior counsel Anil Divan expressed apprehension over
threat to Khan's life as he had enough material to expose the
powers-that-be behind the various murky deals and wanted the
Government to ensure his security.
The bench expressed displeasure that the probe against
Khan in the fake passport case had not proceeded in the right
direction with right speed "as nothing is moving despite the
magnitude of the issue."
It asked the Director of the Enforcement Directorate
(ED), the economic offence watchdog under the Ministry of
Finance, to personally supervise the ongoing investigation and
place a status report covering the concerns on national
security expressed by the petitioner.
The court issued the directions while hearing a public
interest litigation filed by eminent jurist Ram Jethmalani,
seeking recovery of huge corpus of black money stashed in
banks abroad by Indians.
Khan was arrested on Monday night by the Enforcement
Directorate which carried out searches at his Pune home and
that of his associates' premises in several cities ahead of
Tuesday's Supreme Court deadline.
53-year-old Ali, first detained in Pune, was later
taken to Mumbai and grilled by the ED for nearly six hours
before being put under arrest.
The ED placed a status report on Khan's statements
recorded during interrogation.
Concerned over allegations that the probe was being
scuttled by vested interests, the bench asked government to
furnish details of the four officials abruptly transferred
midway during the investigation.
The government responded to the query saying the
officials were on deputation with the ED and were repatriated.
Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam, however, assured
the court that he would take up the matter with the government
and try to see that the officials are retained.
The Centre admitted that the court at the earlier
hearing was justified in seeking Khan's custodial
interrogation as the charges against him were serious.
"I must candidly admit that the concerns expressed by
this court for custodial interrogation were fully justified.
"I would ensure that the Director of the Enforcement
Directorate would personally supervise the investigation. We
would also look into the allegations that certain officers
were victimised and take suitable steps," Subramanium said.
The Solicitor General also admitted that one of the
investigating officers, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP),
Mumbai was harassed by his superiors as he had the courage to
take on Khan in the fake passport case.
"As far as one of the officers is concerned, he was a
DCP in Mumbai police and was investigating the forged passport
case of Hassan Ali Khan. He has paid heavily for touching that
person," he said.
Expressing concern over the threat to Khan's life,
Divan appearing for Jethmalani, recalled that Ashutosh
Asthana, a key accused in the Ghaziabad provident fund scam,
was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Dasna Jail of
the district during the CBI probe into the case.
Meanwhile, the ED submitted to the court in a sealed
cover its status report on the probe into the case related to
black money in which they also mentioned Khan's arrest on
Monday night.
Subramaniam told the court that besides the ED report,
he would also furnish a status report relating to the
investigation so far conducted by the Income Tax department.
The Solicitor General said the Centre was considering
registering cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act and
assured the bench that a copy of the investigation report of
the IT (Income Tax) would be placed before it.
Responding to Divan's complaint that the ED had
started the adjudication proceedings even before completion
of the investigations, the apex court said, "Any decision in
the adjudication proceedings would be subject to the final
outcome of the petition."
The bench posted the matter for further hearing to
March 18.